Deimos no Hanayome: Ran no Kumikyoku (Bride of Deimos)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Akuma no Hanayome: Ran no Kumikyoku, Bride of Deimos: The Orchid Suite

Japanese: 悪魔の花嫁蘭の組曲

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Information

Type: OVA

Episodes: 1

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Aug 31, 1988

Producers: Toei Video, Akita Shoten

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Madhouse

Source: Manga

Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural

Themes: Mythology, Psychological

Demographic: Shoujo

Duration: 32 min.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 5.69¹ (scored by 2,803 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #11315²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #7633

Members: 7,110

Favorites: 20

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Synopsis

Trapped in a dark abyss, the once-beautiful Venus is rotting in her own despair. Unhappy with her fate, she calls on her twin brother Deimos to find her a new body.

Meanwhile, Minako Ifu is in a predicament, as her friend Hisamatsu has gone missing while searching for a master orchid grower. On her way to locate him, she encounters Deimos—who declares that she will become his bride and return to the underworld with him. Fleeing in disgust, Minako discovers the house her friend was pursuing and meets the endearing siblings Touko and Kaname Ooba.

However, the situation is not as it seems, and Minako quickly becomes entangled in a nefarious affair—all while being followed by the charming Deimos.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Characters & Voice Actors

Deimos

Main

Nozawa, Nachi
Japanese

Ifu, Minako

Main

Shou, Mayumi
Japanese

Ooba, Kaname

Main

Shiozawa, Kaneto
Japanese

Venus

Supporting

Fujita, Toshiko
Japanese

Hisamatsu

Supporting

Kusao, Takeshi
Japanese

Ooba, Touko

Supporting

Mutou, Reiko
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Rintarou

Director

Kawajiri, Yoshiaki

Key Animation

Hamasaki, Hiroshi

Character Design, Animation Director, Key Animation

Koike, Takeshi

Animation Check

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Opening Theme

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Ending Theme

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Reviews

Aug 2, 2021

BobSamurai

Recommended

In all my life, I've never witnessed this degree of animation overkill. Studio Madhouse had the opportunity to produce an OVA adapting a shoujo manga where a cursed man pursues a beautiful teen so that her body can be used as the vessel for his wife, whose flesh is rotting away. Sadly, what we get is a random chapter from a 17 volume manga. I don't blame Madhouse for not producing a complete adaptation because, for 1, they were likely commissioned for just 1 episode, and two, I don't think the manga was ever completed either.

I consider Bride of Deimos to be an artistic ... total package. Character designs, background art, scene composition, animation, music, and sound effects, everything combines to create an ominous atmosphere. Although this was likely intended to be a promo for the manga, its end result far surpassed its purpose and created a visual experience capable of standing on its own. Additionally, I couldn't help but notice a similarity to Vampire Hunter D. Surprisingly, it shares the same animation director as Vampire Hunter D, as well as several other 80s classics that you might be familiar with. Furthermore, it was directed by Madhouse co-founder Rintaro who has his own extensive list of accomplishments.

Presentation aside, there is a story that's being told in Bride of Deimos...in fact, there's two. Admittedly, this 30-minute ova felt like it lasted an hour due to it being so dense with artistic value as well as its two stories. The first lays the groundwork for the main plot by introducing Deimos, and his wife's would-be host, Minako. The second story occupies the majority of the OVA. It is basically episodic subplot from the manga that depicts a secluded brother and sister who lure people into their mansion to murder them.

Surprisingly, this segment of the story was pretty impressive, considering it only occupied about 15 minutes of screen time. In addition to being suspenseful, the brother and sister received characterization, a back story, and it's concluded with tragic irony. As long as you come into this ova expecting the main plot to go nowhere and its subplot to be the high point of its narrative, then you'll likely enjoy the OVA even more. Personally, I was confused by this gradual focal shift considering Minako's involvement with the brother and sister duo. Hopefully, this review can set your expectations appropriately, so you know what to look for and don't let its loose ends trip you up.

Is Bride of Deimos a bad manga adaptation or an awe-inspiring work of art? There are mixed opinions about this, but I think it's open to interpretation. I read a bit of the manga out of curiosity, and it does have a portion of artistic flair in early chapters. It might be a great read; it's just not for me. However, I do know that I will continue to spread awareness about this OVA because I believe its presentation and atmosphere outweigh its broken plot. I give Bride of Deimos a 7.5 out of 10. If you have 30 minutes, I think this is totally worth your time.

Unfortunately, this ova can only be found in VHS rip format. It's currently available on youtube, but youtube compression plus VHS rip quality doesn't do this anime any favors. I recommend finding a higher-quality version of the VHS rip if you can.

Story 6
Art 10
Sound 10
Character 7
Enjoyment 9
Overall 7.5 (rounded up to 8)

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Jan 2, 2013

Tomah

Mixed Feelings

The OVA Deimos no Hanayome is, in one short sentence, a glorified demonstration of the manga. Does it make it bad? Not quite, but it definitely represents wasted potential.

First of all, do you see that pretty interesting premise for the plot in the synopsis? Yeah, forget about it. The main plot is told in the first few minutes and the rest of the OVA dedicates itself to a side story which is pretty much filler, so no revengeful gods, unconventional love or something like that. This is by far one of the greatest flaws here: you've got yourself some good enough source material for an ... entire series, yet choose to pick a random story and go with it.

Despite all of that, the story for the OVA is actually pretty interesting, so it's partially forgiven. The main character, Minako, is looking for her friend, who disappeared after he went to a certain orchid specialist's mansion. Minako finds herself in a very dangerous situation when she faces the siblings Touko and Kaname, both hiding some bizarre secrets... It's not a complex plot, but it certainly works and fits within the overall tone of the manga: dark, tragic and containing some twisted love stories.

The visuals are very good and able to successfully express the melancholy and morbidity through an overall Gothic atmosphere. Despite following the shoujo traditional art style, the characters have more mature looks to match the story nature. The main problem is the animation itself. Sure, many series and OVAs at the time had some awkward animation consisting of still frames in dramatic and action sequences, but it still looks very dated. To the OVA's merit, though, some of the scenes are quite stylish.

A good soundtrack helps tremendously in building a great atmosphere, and Deimos no Hanayome realizes that... sort of. Well, the musics themselves are good and most sound effects are okay (except a certain annoying and completely unnatural scream), but the transition between background sounds is done very poorly: the music just stops in the middle of the scene, then pops up again later, with very little fluidity.

The characters are the weakest part of this, since the main characters are only fully fleshed out in the manga and there is not much time to develop the bad guys. That's why they should have settled for either really adapting the original plot or making a complete standalone OVA with nothing to do with the manga. However, there is a huge problem which unfortunately manifests in the manga as well: all of the characters have their dumb moments sooner or later, and when they do, it's really dumb. They go from the basic "I'll reveal my whole backstory before I kill you, like a classic villain!" to "I've got evidence, experience and good reasons to assume that I'll be killed, therefore I'll walk straight into the danger without any plan! ". The backstory is interesting, though, and that is the only redeeming feature.

This OVA had the recipe for disaster with underdeveloped characters, technical inefficiency and failure to grasp the original plot, but the engaging suspense and nice visuals saved it. In the end, it's still a disturbing story with an interesting development, so horror fans should definitely give it a chance. If you enjoy more mature shoujo stories, Deimos no Hanayome might be for you as well, but be warned that it's basically advertising for the manga and doesn't try to hide that fact.

(Reviewed for the club "Reviews for the unreviewed")

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Jun 14, 2022

Sapphireloid

Not Recommended

Perhaps it was dumb for me to watch this without the context of the manga, but I'm so used to being able to watch something without reading the manga that this just put me off, to be honest.

It feels like they tried to fit some sort of exposition in at the beginning of the OVA but I found myself quickly lost and bored. Some scenes cut so suddenly and weirdly that I became confused and had no idea what was happening anymore. While the mystery aspect of the plot is nice, there are various things and points I found myself laughing at in how ...